In the fall of 1998 my grandparents, Kenneth and Mary Cunningham adopted a
dog from a shelter. My grandparents were from Rippey, Iowa and you
personally came to visit their farm to assure that the dog would have a safe
and loving home. Little did you know that our family has always been animal
lovers and would only take an animal that we could appropriately care for, you
quickly saw that and approved the adoption. The dog that was adopted was
originally called "Arnold" about an 18 month old Rot/Great Dane mix. He was
an intimidating looking dog.
Once Arnold came home to our farm we quickly found that there wasn't a mean bone in that dog's body and we changed his name to "Rocky."
Rocky had a very special relationship with my grandfather, who at the time
was 80. Where ever grandpa went, Rocky went too. He would get so excited
when grandpa would get home, he could hardly contain himself, quickly
reverting back into a puppy-like state.
Rocky was very protective of all the great-grandkids that were always
underfoot. The only thing he would get worked up about was if grandpa may
have been giving someone else a little too much attention, he would get a nose to
the side, just to remind him his "baby" needed his attention too.
Rocky, being a big dog, did have some issues with his hips, but it never
really slowed him down. My grandfather's health began to slowly go down hill
about a year and a half ago and with that we also started to see Rocky
decline.
My grandfather had a bacterial infection that caused him to lose weight and
Rocky lost weight right along side of him. The vet told us there wasn't
anything wrong with him. But did tell us he thought he was just really
connect to grandpa.
Grandpa went into the hospital the Sunday after Thanksgiving. He was moved
to hospice on December 12. The hospice allowed us to bring Rocky to visit
grandpa. Although grandpa wasn't quite alert, Rocky immediately went to the
bedside. We placed grandpa's hand on his head and he stroked his dog. When
his hand was placed back under his blanket, he fought to get it back out to
reach for Rocky. He knew he was there.
My grandfather passed away on December 19. The next night Rocky didn't come
back in after being let out. Our other dog (A lovely black lab, Tango)
returned and they were never separated, was told to go back out and find him
and "you never leave your wing man." (A quote from the movie Top Gun, as there
has to be some humor through our sadness and grief). The family searched for
Rocky for hours, but he wasn't to be found. We all figured that he was out
looking for his grandpa. Well, he did come home several hours later, in the
middle of the night. The entire family received middle of the night phone
calls with the good news.
Our beloved grandfather was buried on Saturday December 22, 2007. We knew
that Rocky wasn't right, as he had vomited the night before. We returned
home from the funeral services shortly before 1pm. Rocky was in the living room
on his bed and it was obvious that his time was near. My mother laid with
him on the floor, holding him as he took his last breath. She said it was
like she was here pushing him to the other side and grandpa was on the other side
calling him home to him.
There is peace in the fact that grandpa and Rocky are together, although it
is still hard on all of our hearts. Someone later said that maybe the night
after grandpa died and Rocky was missing that maybe he wasn't really missing
at all, but that he was out looking for his wing man, because grandpa was
really the lost wing man.
Thank you for being such a wonderful organization. The love and joy that
Rocky brought to our lives and to our dear grandpa is really beyond words.
God only knows where Rocky would have ended up if the ARL hadn't been there to
take him in until he could find his way to us.
Thank you for allowing me to share our family's story with you. I've also
attached a picture of Rocky that was taken in August 2007, grandpa is
standing off to the side. Not the best picture in the world, but Rocky had been out
chasing a stick, okay really a big branch, that afternoon. They did always
enjoy sitting in the hot afternoon sun.
Jenni Eiteman, granddaughter of Kenneth Cunningham
Rocky had a very special relationship with my grandfather, who at the time
was 80. Where ever grandpa went, Rocky went too. He would get so excited
when grandpa would get home, he could hardly contain himself, quickly
reverting back into a puppy-like state.
Rocky was very protective of all the great-grandkids that were always
underfoot. The only thing he would get worked up about was if grandpa may
have been giving someone else a little too much attention, he would get a nose to
the side, just to remind him his "baby" needed his attention too.
Rocky, being a big dog, did have some issues with his hips, but it never
really slowed him down. My grandfather's health began to slowly go down hill
about a year and a half ago and with that we also started to see Rocky
decline.
My grandfather had a bacterial infection that caused him to lose weight and
Rocky lost weight right along side of him. The vet told us there wasn't
anything wrong with him. But did tell us he thought he was just really
connect to grandpa.
Grandpa went into the hospital the Sunday after Thanksgiving. He was moved
to hospice on December 12. The hospice allowed us to bring Rocky to visit
grandpa. Although grandpa wasn't quite alert, Rocky immediately went to the
bedside. We placed grandpa's hand on his head and he stroked his dog. When
his hand was placed back under his blanket, he fought to get it back out to
reach for Rocky. He knew he was there.
My grandfather passed away on December 19. The next night Rocky didn't come
back in after being let out. Our other dog (A lovely black lab, Tango)
returned and they were never separated, was told to go back out and find him
and "you never leave your wing man." (A quote from the movie Top Gun, as there
has to be some humor through our sadness and grief). The family searched for
Rocky for hours, but he wasn't to be found. We all figured that he was out
looking for his grandpa. Well, he did come home several hours later, in the
middle of the night. The entire family received middle of the night phone
calls with the good news.
Our beloved grandfather was buried on Saturday December 22, 2007. We knew
that Rocky wasn't right, as he had vomited the night before. We returned
home from the funeral services shortly before 1pm. Rocky was in the living room
on his bed and it was obvious that his time was near. My mother laid with
him on the floor, holding him as he took his last breath. She said it was
like she was here pushing him to the other side and grandpa was on the other side
calling him home to him.
There is peace in the fact that grandpa and Rocky are together, although it
is still hard on all of our hearts. Someone later said that maybe the night
after grandpa died and Rocky was missing that maybe he wasn't really missing
at all, but that he was out looking for his wing man, because grandpa was
really the lost wing man.
Thank you for being such a wonderful organization. The love and joy that
Rocky brought to our lives and to our dear grandpa is really beyond words.
God only knows where Rocky would have ended up if the ARL hadn't been there to
take him in until he could find his way to us.
Thank you for allowing me to share our family's story with you. I've also
attached a picture of Rocky that was taken in August 2007, grandpa is
standing off to the side. Not the best picture in the world, but Rocky had been out
chasing a stick, okay really a big branch, that afternoon. They did always
enjoy sitting in the hot afternoon sun.
Jenni Eiteman, granddaughter of Kenneth Cunningham
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